People From Brussels

"Christ’s prayer is fulfilled in those united to God in this threefold manner. With God they will ebb and flow, and will always be in repose, Iin possessing and enjoying (Him). They will go out and in and find nourishment both within and without. They are drunk with love And have passed away into God in a dark luminosity."

"There is a distinction and differentiation, According to our reason, Between God and the Godhead, Between action and rest. The fruitful nature of the Persons (Trinity) Ever worketh in a living differentiation. But the simple Being of God, According to the nature thereof, Is an eternal Rest of God And of all created things"

"And the Light floweth forth in similitude, And indraweth Itself in unity; Which we perceive, beyond the reason, In that high point of our understanding Which is bare and turned within."

"Even though the eagle, King of birds, Can with his powerful sight Gaze steadfastly upon The brightness of the sun; Yet do the weaker eyes of the bat Fail and falter in the same."

"The Book of Boz is neither a novel nor a poem nor a tale. Even less is it a drama or an essay. It is nothing except the style that inspires it and haunts it, to excess. No points of reference here. No beacon. You sail wherever the wind blows. Stories are woven, end, are reborn, with the flow, before a storm comes up to carry us further away, to the threshold of a new vision. For, that is The Book of Boz : a work outside of norms, indefinable, created by a wanderer for other wanderers."

"Although most western European leaders had reservations about the concept of a full European federation, a majority of them, especially among Christian Democrats, agreed that the ECSC created a foundation to build on. Even Winston Churchill, back as British prime minister after the 1950 elections, had called for a “United States of Europe,” though he had doubted that the British Commonwealth would be part of it. In 1956 a committee under Belgian foreign minister Paul-Henri Spaak set out proposals for what a year later became the Treaty of Rome, creating the European Economic Community (EEC). The EEC built directly on the ECSC. It had the same member states and the same supranational approach to economic integration. But it had a much wider remit, and would, over the generation that followed, remake western Europe as a unifying economic zone."

"NATO was a triumph of organization and effort, but is was also something very new and very different. For NATO derived its strength directly from the moral values of the people it represented, from their high ideals, their love of liberty, and their commitment to peace. But perhaps the greatest triumph of all was not in the realm of a sound defense or material achievement. No, the greatest triumph after the war is that in spite of all of the chaos, poverty, sickness, and misfortune that plagued this continent, the people of Western Europe resisted the call of new tyrants and the lure of their seductive ideologies. Your nations did not become the breeding ground for new extremist philosophies. You resisted the totalitarian temptation. Your people embraced democracy, the dream the Fascists could not kill. They chose freedom. And today we celebrate the leaders who led the way—Churchill and Monnet, Adenauer and Schuman, De Gasperi and Spaak, Truman and Marshall. And we celebrate, too, the free political parties that contributed their share of greatness—the Liberals and the Christian Democrats, the Social Democrats and Labour and the Conservatives. Together they tugged at the same oar, and the great and mighty ship of Europe moved on."

"There are only two types of states in Europe: small states, and small states that have not yet realized they are small."

"The real father of the Atlantic Alliance was Stalin. It is he who has the right to a monument in each of our countries."

"Mathematical physics represents the purest image that the view of nature may generate in the human mind; this image presents all the character of the product of art; it begets some unity, it is true and has the quality of sublimity; this image is to physical nature what music is to the thousand noises of which the air is full..."

"I am very satisfied with my invention. With this pocket, the rain can fall, and i'm not afraid: my beard will stay dry. You laugh, but you don't laugh when a woman, after washing her hair, dries it and wraps it in a towel. You are not laughing, and yet it is the same. Women drying their hair, and I guaranteeing my beard from the rain, we are only keeping us from colds!"

"Whoever has a cold is stupid, because he just had to avoid catching a cold."

"Excuse me, dear niece, for this letter, which is really just a health bulletin. Especially concerned with a health so dear to me, I am almost unable to speak of anything else."

"I sleep poorly. This long abstinence is destroying me. My nature needs frequent contacts with the beautiful gender. I don't understand how priests can live like this."

"I have only one goal and one desire, namely to give myself a practical instruction, to get to know the world and its inhabitants. There will come times when this knowledge will be of use to me."

"Young trees need stakes to support them, but the stakes must be removed once the trees begin to grow, precisely so not to hinder their growth."

"I want it to be and it will be."

"One aim of the hostilities is a reunification of Catholics under one crown, with the rivers as the northern boundary, to reach that goal we must launch a decisive attack on Amsterdam, depose the king, and at the very least let the people decide which government it prefers."

"A battle with the Netherlands must be a surprise on our part, we must suddenly present ourselves there with weapons, disrupt the order, and keep the provinces that want to join, let the others go free as they please."

"A Prince must not speak the language of the tribunes and proclaim absolute principles in terms which are likely to deeply offend those who are of another opinion than his own."

"You just have to dare to succeed."

"Nothing is more difficult than arriving at a court where nobody knows anyone in the world, add to that the Austrian Etiquette, and you can imagine what kind of evening I had to endure."

"Santo Tomas was based on emigration and was therefore bound to fail, Belgians do not emigrate."

"Trading posts and colonies, gentlemen, have not only strengthened the commercial positions of the peoples concerned; these nations owe their greatness to these institutions."

"Belgium should become the capital of the Belgian Empire, which, with the help of God, will consist of Borneo, islands in the Pacific, some places in Africa and America, and also areas of China and Japan. I am the only one pursuing this for now, but by over-exposing the national fever, I will find support and create apostles."

"If the knowledge of foreign languages is particularly useful in our time, that of national languages is a necessity. It is necessary to have them taught to the youth simultaneously, and it is to be desired that their use should become more and more common to all Belgians."

"On the occasion of my 65th birthday, I wish to hand over to the State my properties that contribute to the attractiveness and beauty of the places where they are located."

"If instead of talking about neutrality, the Chamber took care of our trade, Belgium would become the richest in the world."

"If I do not promise Belgium a splendid government like that which founded its independence, nor a great King like him whom we mourn, then at least i believe to be a Belgian King in heart and soul, whose whole life belongs to the country."

"Small country, small people."

"My dear General, the Belgian state, will shortly issue a government loan of fifty million, France is writing one of two and a half billion, please ask Lambert to inform you of the condition of the French operation, as for the Belgian loan, leave it to me to try and get information from the ministers, but don't say anything to Lambert, if the French government loan yields 5 or 6 percent I will invest a large sum in it, if the interest is lower then I won't subscribe to it, Leopold."

"We are going to democratize the chamber and the senate, we also have to democratize the monarchy, give it the opportunity, when it feels the need to obtain direct advice, support from the changing electoral corps."

"To the presidents of the chambers, the institutions of the country are on the eve of profound changes, various indications and circumstances have convinced me that it is desirable in the new situation, a new administration should take office, I request you on my behalf to inform the chambers of my abdication, with the highest and most special esteem, your affectionate King, Leopold."

"Dear Minister, I particularly regret that the government, as I had expressly requested, did not make the royal referendum a sine qua non, three points in the program concern the crown directly, the possibility of expanding the territory, the referendum and the princely marriages, I would have liked to see this matter implemented, we have been clear about this during our discussions, we have taken a very moderate attitude with this at a time when the most democratic constitution in Europe is being even more democratized, a constitution drawn up during a revolution, and at a time when there was no monarch, your devotee, etc. Leopold."

"I will instruct the minister of war to strengthen the Gendarmerie in Brussels, to recognize the addresses and customs of the demagogues and to try to find out what is coming up, I am told that the demonstrations which are only intended as intimidation and as preparation in an unguarded moment are able to turn into something else, once they have everyone on the street they will attack the government, what measure have you taken to face such a surprise attack? Do the regiments have been ordered to march on their own accord to the Rue de la Loi and the Boulvard, where in the summer it is more difficult to summon soldiers, will they be more satisfied now, working in the open air is now impossible, if I were you I wouldn't hesitate for a minute to summon them, the responsibility is too great, you are not protected from an incident, and you will have to face a formidable riot, all yours leopold."

"Dear Minister, please let me know how many men are actually available in Hainaut, Ghent and Brussels, please also inform me of any measures that will allow you to remain in control of the situation if necessary, I wish you the assurance, dear minister, of my total devotion, Leopold."

"We must put an end to anarchy and its continuing preaching."

"I am generous and about to make a multi-million dollar sacrifice to beautify my capital. It will cost me three to four years of wages, but I wish my life here on earth to leave many traces."

"You speak of my popularity, but it is out of the question now, and in doing so, my dear Prime Minister, I declare that I will not doubt between my duty and my love: a popularity based on deceiving a country about its true interests would weigh heavily on my conscience and that is a burden that I do not want to bear."

"It is not the first time that Belgium has had to undergo a dangerous ordeal. But never has the situation been more serious than today! … Freedom, honor, the very existence of the fatherland is at stake."

"If God gives me a long life and allows me to carry out my task, then Brussels will become a city of exceptional category."

"I have no other desire than to leave Belgium bigger, stronger and more beautiful."

"France need not to extend its own borders, that would only have a counterproductive effect, however, it should surround itself with allies and friends whom it must make more powerful, and whom in turn make France itself more powerful, such an approach will not disturb anyone, free and without In this way, France can fence itself with reliable allies, it goes without saying that 6 or 7 million Piedmontese, 3 million Swiss, 8 million Belgians and 37 million French can provide the French emperor with a larger, better organized and more complete armed forces than those possessed by the Empire of 50 million people, all the emperor has to do is give us permission to invade the Netherlands, thanks in part to his prestige a quick and easy victory awaits us."

"When the State of Congo was called to economic life by the King of the Belgians, trade was only possible on the ribs. Now, thanks to the activity of His Majesty, he is done safely above the cataracts. This is the result of the peace and order which were introduced by the King of the Belgians incountries where no white merchant could have shown himself before."

"The independence of the Congo is the crowning of the work conceived by the genius of King Leopold II undertaken by him with firm courage, and continued by Belgium with perseverance. Independence marks a decisive hour in the destinies not only of the Congo herself but- I don't hesitate to say-of the whole of Africa."

"The history of the Democratic Republic of the Congo is also that of the Belgian missionaries, officials and entrepreneurs who believed in King Leopold II's dream of building a State in the center of Africa. At this precise moment, we want to pay homage to the memory of all these pioneers."

"2008 commemorates the centenary of Congo becoming a colony in 1908. This colony ceased to exist in 1960. But as is well known, since 1885 there have been close ties between Congo and Belgium, in particular through the Belgian King Leopold II, who in 1885 after the Berlin Congress, in fact, acquired Congo as his "personal property"."

"When Leopold II began his great work, which today finds its culmination, he presented himself to you not as a conqueror but as a bringer of civilization."

"Leopold, aware of the high responsibilities he had to bear towards Belgium and determined to liberate the African peoples from their crushing material and moral living conditions, wanted to bring civilization to the very heart of the black continent in order to put an end to to the shameful slave trade and the enslavement that resulted from it, to fight against the deadly plagues and to put an end to ignorance and lead the peoples to the good to which they were entitled."

"Hitler, Stalin, Men who need no introduction. King Leopold of Belgium, that's right Everyone thinks he's so great Well, he owned the Congo, He tore it up too, Took the diamonds, Took the silver, Took the gold, You know what he left 'em with? Malaria."